Noise

This was an unpublished post from September 2009:

I've been thinking lately about how much noise there is in the world. There is the ambient noise that's just part of the background everywhere we go, then there's television, radio, cable, internet music streaming, movies, Facebook, Twitter, phone calls and incessant texts, and the chatter of all the people around us. There's also a sort of noise of a different type. I noticed it yesterday when I took Mom to the Fashion Place Mall in Murray, to swap out a defective iPhone at the Apple store there. The mall was noisy in the usual sense, but there was also a lot of non-audible noise on display in so many people that roamed around the place. Their fashionable clothing, hairstyles, and accessories were crying out to be noticed. We've grown accustomed to constant agitation, to the point that I think we don't even notice the noisiness, complexity and clutter of it all. We may even get to the point where we feel uncomfortable with silence and simplicity.

The Hope of God's Light - AF 12th Ward Sac Mtg Talk 9/22/2013

Light Cleaveth to Light

A week and a half ago, NASA announced that the Voyager 1 spacecraft, which was launched in 1977, has entered interstellar space. The craft has traveled almost 12 billion miles away from our sun, and has exited our solar system. Nasa is communicating with it and receiving data from it on a daily basis.
Think about that. Scientists & engineers were able to build a small vehicle, -- which would fit into bishop Merrill's office, --- and launch it into space 36 years ago, way back when Jimmy Carter was president. A gallon of gas was 59 cents, Fidel Castro had just taken control of Cuba, and people wore bell bottom pants on purpose. That was a long, long time ago.

Like a cosmic Energizer Bunny, the NASA Voyager has kept going and going. The signal strength of the transmitter it uses to communicate with people on earth is 23 watts. That's a little less than the light in your refrigerator. So it's not very powerful to begin with. By the time that 23 watt signal reaches the earth, it has weakened to almost nothing --- less than a billionth of a billionth of a watt. Traveling at the speed of light, it takes about 17 hours to reach the earth. Yet, Nasa scientists are able to receive and understand the signal.

Our Heavenly Father's ability to transmit signals to us is not measured in watts, but if it were, it would be infinitely more powerful than your refrigerator light. We need not have any doubt whatsoever that our Heavenly Father has the ability to communicate with us, instantly and personally. He is able to impart light and truth to us through the Holy Ghost, so that His light can chase the darkness from our lives.

Missionaries throughout the world are bringing the light of God's hope to the  lives of his children, as He hastens the work, in preparation for the Second Coming of His Son.

This morning two senior missionary couples and two young Elders who have just returned from their missions, gave their report to the stake presidency and High Council. It was a spiritually rich experience to hear how their labors are blessings the lives of our brothers and sisters all around the world. Brother and Sister Jepson who have been in England, serving as Church Agricultural Service Missionaries, spoke of the change of hearts and attitudes towards the Church, among the farming communities in England, as they've seen how the church cares for the farms we own there. All of the profits from the wheat and canola oil production of the farms are set aside to provide cash donations to disaster stricken areas throughout the world to help pay for rebuilding efforts.

Elder McKay Ballard, the son of Diane and the late David Ballard, spoke of his work in Australia. One family he taught was from Iran, and they shared the partial translation of the Book of Mormon available in Persian.  Through the Book of Mormon and the missionaries, they saw and felt the light of God and were converted, and 8 of their Iranian friends also joined the church as a result. The light and confidence that was easy to see in Elder Ballard's face was inspiring.

Elder Jones, who just returned from the Ghana, Accra mission, spoke of the initial struggle he had as he coped with the challenges of his mission. At one point he asked the Lord why he was there, suffering and unable to sleep under a mosquito net in the oppressive heat, made worse by regular periods of electrical outages.  He looked us in the eye and said "I received an answer. I heard a voice in my mind, so clear and strong that it pushed out all other thoughts: it said "You are not here for yourself. You are here for the people of Ghana. They are my children."  As I listened to and watched this returned missionary, I had no doubt that that was a pivotal experience for him. It reminds me of President Hinckley's experience as a young Elder. You remember the story. Young Gordon B. Hinckley was discouraged and in a letter to his father, said "I am wasting my time and your money." His father wrote back, telling Gordon to forget himself and go to work. And he did. And he didn't stop working for another seven decades or so. Like young Elder Hinckley, Elder Jones also forgot himself and went to work. He went on to serve the people with all he had to offer, and as a result he deeply loves those people. I could see it from the light in his eyes.

Forgetting ourselves and bringing the light of the restored gospel to our brothers and sisters is the antidote to today's toxic popular culture, which teaches us to turn our attention inward, until we are incapable of seeing anything outside of ourselves and our own narrow interests.

Chase Darkness From You

Elder Uchtdorf taught this to us last April:
"There may be some among you who feel darkness encroaching upon you. You may feel burdened by worry, fear, or doubt. To you and to all of us, I repeat a wonderful and certain truth: God's light is real. It is available to all! It gives life to all things.¹ It has the power to soften the sting of the deepest wound. It can be a healing balm for the loneliness and sickness of our souls. In the furrows of despair, it can plant the seeds of a brighter hope. It can enlighten the deepest valleys of sorrow. It can illuminate the path before us and lead us through the darkest night into the promise of a new dawn.
This is "the Spirit of Jesus Christ," which gives "light to every man that cometh into the world."²

Nevertheless, spiritual light rarely comes to those who merely sit in darkness waiting for someone to flip a switch. It takes an act of faith to open our eyes to the Light of Christ. Spiritual light cannot be discerned by carnal eyes. Jesus Christ Himself taught, "I am the light which shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not."³ For "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."⁴

So how do we open our eyes to the hope of God's light?

First, start where you are.

Isn't it wonderful to know that we don't have to be perfect to experience the blessings and gifts of our Heavenly Father? We don't have to wait to cross the finish line to receive God's blessings. In fact, the heavens begin to part and the blessings of heaven begin to distill upon us with the very first steps we take toward the light.

The perfect place to begin is exactly where you are right now. It doesn't matter how unqualified you may think you are or how far behind others you may feel. The very moment you begin to seek your Heavenly Father, in that moment, the hope of His light will begin to awaken, enliven, and ennoble your soul.⁵ The darkness may not dissipate all at once, but as surely as night always gives way to dawn, the light will come.

Second, turn your heart toward the Lord.

Lift up your soul in prayer and explain to your Heavenly Father what you are feeling. Acknowledge your shortcomings. Pour out your heart and express your gratitude. Let Him know of the trials you are facing. Plead with Him in Christ's name for strength and support. Ask that your ears may be opened, that you may hear His voice. Ask that your eyes may be opened, that you may see His light.

Third, walk in the light.

Your Heavenly Father knows that you will make mistakes. He knows that you will stumble—perhaps many times. This saddens Him, but He loves you. He does not wish to break your spirit. On the contrary, He desires that you rise up and become the person you were designed to be.
To that end, He sent His Son to this earth to illuminate the way and show us how to safely cross the stumbling blocks placed in our path. He has given us the gospel, which teaches the way of the disciple. It teaches us the things we must know, do, and be to walk in His light, following in the footsteps of His Beloved Son, our Savior."

Those "10 Things" lists that get passed around online are usually pretty cheesy and not very useful. But I think this one is quite good. It's from a guy named Justin Freeman, whose bio description is "Great at stuff nobody pays for"

What are the top 10 things that we should be informed about, in life?

1. Realize that nobody cares, and if they do, you shouldn't care that they care. Got a new car? Nobody cares. You'll get some gawkers for a couple of weeks—they don't care. They're curious. Three weeks in it'll be just another shiny blob among all the thousands of others crawling down the freeway and sitting in garages and driveways up and down your street. People will care about your car just as much as you care about all of those. Got a new gewgaw? New wardrobe? Went to a swanky restaurant? Exotic vacation? Nobody cares. Don't base your happiness on people caring, because they won't. And if they do, they either want your stuff or hate you for it.

2. Some rulebreakers will break rule number one. Occasionally, people in your life will defy the odds and actually care about you. Still not your stuff, sorry. But if they value you, they'll value that you value it, and they'll listen. When you talk about all of those things that nobody else cares about, they will look into your eyes and consume your words, and in that moment you will know that every part of them is there with you.

3. Spend your life with rulebreakers. Marry them. Befriend them. Work with them. Spend weekends with them. No matter how much power you become possessed of, you'll never be able to make someone care—so gather close the caring.

4. Money is cheap. I mean, there's a lot of it—trillions upon trillions of dollars floating around the world, largely made up of cash whose value is made up and ascribed to it, anyway. Don't engineer your life around getting a slightly less tiny portion of this pile, and make your spirit of generosity reflect this principle. I knew a man who became driven by the desire to amass six figures in savings, so he worked and scrimped and sacrificed to get there. And he did... right before he died of cancer. I'm sure his wife's new husband appreciated his diligence.

5. Money is expensive. I mean, it's difficult to get your hands on sometimes—and you never know when someone's going to pull the floorboards out from under you—so don't be stupid with it. Avoid debt on depreciating assets, and never incur debt in order to assuage your vanity (see rule number one). Debt has become normative, but don't blithely accept it as a rite of passage into adulthood—debt represents imbalance and, in some sense, often a resignation of control. Student loan debt isn't always avoidable, but it isn't a given—my wife and I completed a combined ten years of college with zero debt between us. If you can't avoid it, though, make sure that your degree is an investment rather than a liability—I mourn a bit for all of the people going tens of thousands of dollars in debt in pursuit of vague liberal arts degrees with no idea of what they want out of life. If you're just dropping tuition dollars for lack of a better idea at the moment, just withdraw and go wander around Europe for a few weeks—I guarantee you'll spend less and learn more in the process.

6. Learn the ancient art of rhetoric. The elements of rhetoric, in all of their forms, are what make the world go around—because they are what prompt the decisions people make. If you develop an understanding of how they work, while everyone else is frightened by flames and booming voices, you will be able to see behind veils of communication and see what levers little men are pulling. Not only will you develop immunity from all manner of commercials, marketing, hucksters and salesmen, to the beautiful speeches of liars and thieves, you'll also find yourself able to craft your speech in ways that influence people. When you know how to speak in order to change someone's mind, to instill confidence in someone, to quiet the fears of a child, then you will know this power firsthand. However, bear in mind as you use it that your opponent in any debate is not the other person, but ignorance.

7. You are responsible to everyone, but you're responsible for yourself. I believe we're responsible to everyone for something, even if it's something as basic as an affirmation of their humanity. However, it should most often go far beyond that and manifest itself in service to others, to being a voice for the voiceless. If you're reading this, there are those around you who toil under burdens larger than yours, who stand in need of touch and respect and chances. Conversely, though, you're responsible for yourself. Nobody else is going to find success for you, and nobody else is going to instill happiness into you from the outside. That's on you.

8. Learn to see reality in terms of systems. When you understand the world around you as a massive web of interconnected, largely interdependent systems, things get much less mystifying—and the less we either ascribe to magic or allow to exist behind a fog, the less susceptible we'll be to all manner of being taken advantage of. However:

9. Account for the threat of black swan events. Sometimes chaos consumes the most meticulous of plans, and if you live life with no margins in a financial, emotional, or any other sense, you will be subject to its whims. Take risks, but backstop them with something—I strongly suspect these people who say having a Plan B is a sign of weak commitment aren't living hand to mouth. Do what you need to in order to keep your footing.

10. You both need and don't need other people. You need others in a sense that you need to be part of a community—there's a reason we reflexively pity hermits. Regardless of your theory of anthropogenesis, it's hard to deny that we are built for community, and that 'we' is always more than 'me.' However, you don't need another person in order for your life to have meaning—this idea that Disney has shoved through our eyeballs, that there's someone out there for all of us if we'll just believe hard enough and never stop searching, is hokum... because of arithmetic, if nothing else. Establish your own life—then, if there's a particular person that you can't help but integrate, believe me, you'll know.

11. Always give more than is required of you.

Dude, I'm just sayin'.

I heard a story this week about someone who lost a relative to cancer and got this little gem of wisdom and comfort from someone who heard about his loss: "Well, I'll bet you're glad he's out of his misery." This sort of awkward lack of etiquette was described in an essay I recently read from from Michael J. Lewis, Professor of Art, Williams College. He said

"...the conviction that became widespread in the 1960s, that we do not need formal conventions, but rather authenticity and sincerity--that we do not need etiquette, but rather honesty" has had some negative impact on our social interactions today. He went on to say "the mantra of that era, 'Tell it like it is,' encouraged us to speak from the heart, to improvise. And if this improvisation faltered, as improvisations often do, then stumbling inarticulateness could be taken as a badge of sincerity. The problem, as Emily Post knows, is that there are situations too serious to trust to improvisation. There are moments when a convention is required and cannot be improved upon: the polite inquiry "How are you?", the statement of congratulation, "I wish you the best," the statement of condolence, "I am sorry for your loss." These are not trite platitudes, but social obligations that are ritual actions. Social interaction requires social conventions. People who do not use conventional sayings, such as "I am sorry for your loss," run the danger of saying something inappropriate: "Well, at least he's out of his misery," or "My uncle had the same form of tumor," or "Bummer." If you can trust to your own originality, all you can be sure of is that whatever inappropriate notion is bobbing along at the surface of your unconscious will be blurted out."

I'm glad that we don't have the sort of stuffy social etiquette of Victorian England, but there are times when a little formal convention is much better than making something up as we go along. I'm just sayin' dude.

Understanding the Priesthood Covenant

I like the following, which comes from Larry Barkdull, one of my favorite authors, with a quote from Chauncey Riddle:

To me, the concepts above that describe the development of power to come unto Christ, and power to help others come unto Christ, are particularly profound. I have served as an ordinance worker at the Mt. Timpanogos temple for the last four and a half years. Whenever I have been paying attention, I have almost always received a spiritual witness at some point during my assignment each week, which has deepened my appreciation for the work of the temple. I have often felt a connection with the persons on whose behalf I have officiated, particularly in administering the initiatory ordinances, to the point where I have had to pause for several seconds before I could continue. Every once in a while, during endowment sessions, I have gotten a tiny glimpse of the grandeur of the great plan of salvation. I've found that there is much, much more to the endowment ceremony than meets the eye when we pay attention and are receptive to instruction from the Spirit of the Lord. There and in other situations in our lives, it seems that we are most likely to receive help from heaven when we are going about serving others, like the Savior, doing for them what they are powerless to do for themselves. There are many scenarios where this applies, but perhaps none so much as in the temple.

The Case Against the Fed - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Daily

The Case Against the Fed - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Daily

Curiousity

I've wondered why, in my experience, there appears to be such a remarkable lack of genuine curiosity in so many people about the religious faith of others? When it comes to understanding the religious beliefs of others, many of us apparently have a sound bite understanding -- we settle for a simplified, often sensationalized view of others, much like how we get so much of our views about news from sound bites on network television, because we're too busy or distracted or uninterested, or whatever, to delve deeper.
But when it comes to the religion of others, this has been proven to be a very dangerous thing. When large segments of a population have accepted sound bites and distorted caricatures as reality regarding a particular religious or ethnic group in their society, it has led to persecution, genocide, and extermination on varying scales throughout history, from hundreds to millions. Mormons and Native Americans in the 19th century, Jews in WWII (and throughout their history),

Why do so many Christians, people how profess to believe in Jesus Christ, refuse to evaluate the Book of Mormon on its merits? There seems to be a tremendous lack of curiosity in a book that claims to be a faithful testament of Jesus Christ, that validates the Bible as the word of God, and that testifies of His divinity and mission as the Son of God?
Is it because they think they already know? Perhaps they're simply prejudiced from what they've heard from pastors or others.
Over dinner, I recently asked two cousins of mine-- Linda, a Southern Baptist, and Bill, an Evangelical-- why so few Christians are willing to evaluate the Book of Mormon on it's own merits, rather than listening to what others think of it. My evangelical cousin responded "Because of ignorance I suppose. I myself have not read the source documents." We had a lengthy conversation about our belief in Jesus Christ as the savior and redeemer, and the absolute need for the atonement and repentance, the restoration of the gospel after long centuries of apostasy etc. He admitted that he had been mistaken about our beliefs. I later handed him a copy of the Book of Mormon, and said "here's the source document. I invite you to read it."

My sweet baptist cousin Linda said her husband Kevin had a Book of Mormon and enjoyed talking to the missionaries. I asked her what she knew herself about the Mormons. She said, as closely as I can recall "well, I know that we have Jesus, and you all have Joseph Smith." Uhhh, that's not quite right, my dear.

You see, they're both a bit of a poet, and you did not know it! Right?

As some of you have already heard me proudly crow about, last month, Hannah and Brooklyn were selected as winners in a state-wide poetry competition sponsored by the Utah Arts Council. Out of about 1500 entries, our very own bracitas were chosen as two of sixty winners among 1st through 12th graders throughout Utah. I thought I should post their entries so you can see them for yourselves.




Hannah received a Special Recognition award for the 11-12th grade category. She was one of only twelve 11-12th graders to win. Here is her poem:

A Prayer for Fall


I want to go at the exact moment I have nothing
to leave, no plan about to hatch, no passport
unstamped, no fist of bills crouched in some coat pocket

I want to leave no book beside my bed
half-read, no conversation cut short, no letters in limbo
no kiss to still be savored

I can't abandon the three unfinished journals
and one fresh-hatched; I cannot leave a relationship
unresolved, or one just resolved

I cannot go in the spring with months of flowers
and frost-free windshields ahead
nor when pools lie undisturbed and cartoon blue

May be, Grace of God, I can go
when browned leaves kneel cloistered round the roots
of trees
their heads bowed in surrender.

We also recently learned that Hannah won 4th place in a creative essay competition held by the English department at BYU. Is she awesome or what?





Here's Brooklyn's entry. She won first place among all 9-10th graders in Utah. We think she's pretty dang awesome too.

Deer Creek Reservoir: August 14, 2009

Fishing is not a sport,
unless patience is a sport,
unless long-suffering is a sport,
unless bearing the wrath of a tempestuous god is a sport.

Pulling soggy seaweed from a propeller is not a test
of physical prowess. Sitting in a splintering boat
slowly filling with rainwater, balancing an umbrella
and a pole, these are not competitive skills;
they are tests of moral rectitude.

Perhaps fishing is a religion.

Certainly, inveterate anglers
can bear all things,
believe all things,
hope all things,
endure all things.

Which leads them to drag their daughters
into drippy dinghies, undo the snags,
untangle knots, hook worms, and suffer
in silence when their girls twitch
and drive the hook into their thumb.

Because they have fished long enough
to master the virtues of fishing,
Faith and Hope will make them stay
to evening's last light.
What they're learning now
is Charity.

Well, that's the latest from Hannah and Brooklyn. Feel free to send them kudos and scholarships.

On Tithes and Offerings

If Father Abraham had written a book called How to Become Rich, he might have recommended that we have faith in the Covenant that we have made and give our surplus to the bishop, "the keeper of the storehouse," who shoulders the responsibility to care for the poor. It is by means of consecrating who we are and what we have to the Lord that abundance flows. Abraham might have reminded us that whereas tithing is a defined sum, offerings are not. The faith required to pay generous offerings is greater than the faith required to pay tithing, and the greater the faith and sacrifice, the greater the blessings. Therefore, our opportunity for growth and blessings lies in our paying offerings."

Larry Barkdull, The Three Pillars of Zion, p.37

Goodbye to the Decade of Dumb

Here we are on New Years Day, 2010. Last night we bid farewell to 2009 and I say to it "good riddance, and don't let the door hit you on the butt on the way out."

I'm optimistic about 2010, but I wasn't in love with 2009 on a number of levels. We were shocked and saddened when Grandma Hall passed away unexpectedly, and later when Gaylen was diagnosed with Cancer and succumbed to it within just a few weeks. Unemployment rose to over 10% nationwide (over 17% including discouraged job seekers and those whose unemployment benefits expired) as we experienced the aftermath of the most severe financial crisis since the 1930's. I spent much of 2009 paying the price for some pretty dumb financial decisions that I and others made in 2008 and earlier. From a financial standpoint, the last decade was arguably one of the dumbest on record. The asset bubbles that got pumped up over the last ten years or so in the housing and securities markets have threatened to tank the entire US and world economies. In late 2008 and throughout 2009, the Federal Reserve pumped trillions of dollars into the US and world markets, and we have averted a collapse, and the financial markets rebounded strongly throughout the second half of 2009. Now we'll see what will be the longer term effect of the USA having turned itself into the biggest debtor nation in the world, and being tens of trillions of dollars in debt. My personal opinion is that ultimately there are only two possible solutions to cure this totally unsustainable level of debt: inflation or default. The government will have to either inflate the currency by devaluing the dollar, or it will default on its debts. A large-scale disaster or global war could facilitate one of both of these "solutions." It's anyone's guess when either one of these things, or some combination of the two, will happen, but if they do, they will create serious hardship for Americans and millions of people around the world.

I suspect that in the coming months we may have a period of what feels like relative prosperity--the calm before the storm. I hope that everyone in the family will use whatever time we have left before the storm--whether it turns out to be weeks, months, or years, we won't know exactly how long until the opportunity has passed--to prepare. My official counsel as Dad and official family Geezer-in-Chief is to do everything possible to get out of debt and stay out of debt. Please take it from me, who have put my hand on the debt stove enough times to know better, that it burns and hurts a lot. Especially consumer debt. I hope you understand and believe that credit card companies are not your friends. They will lure you into having what you want now and when the debt piles up (and it always does when you buy on credit), the consequences will make your life miserable long after you no longer are enjoying whatever it was that you bought with borrowed money. Having a mortgage or monthly rent payment, and paying just basic living expenses is (or eventually will be) challenging enough. Don't sign up for long term slavery and distress by buying stuff with debt. Ok, that's my message for the day (or maybe the entire year if I don't start posting more often.) After all, I've got a new Wii to play with, er, I mean work out with (bought with 100% debt free dollars, thanks to your awesome Mom.)

Now I'm going to get on with the New Year with a shiny new motto--"Less dumb equals more happy" Ask me how I'm doing with that in a few weeks. Love, Dad

Heisenberg and Mormon

I started this post several days ago. I'm finally getting around to posting it.

For some inexplicable reason, I woke up this morning thinking about Heisenberg. Werner Heisenburg was a German physicist in the early 20th century. He helped invent (or discover) Quantum Mechanics, which is something that makes you sound really smart when you bring it up in casual conversation at a party, but in reality, you and I and just about everyone else on the planet really haven't got the slightest clue about what we're talking about. Heisenberg was a pretty smart guy, but he worked for the 3rd Reich, and luckily, he wasn't as smart as Einstein or Bohr or some of the other brainiacs we had on our side, or WWII might have ended differently, in which case we'd all be speaking German instead of English today. We'd have probably even ended up with a bunch of politicians and activists promoting socialized medicine. And it might have even meant that we'd also have a bunch radicals running around sounding the alarm about global climate change or crusading against fatty foods, like the Nazis did. Sure glad that nothing like that is happening. But I digress.

Anyway, Heisenberg was supposedly fairly smart, and as part of the quantum physics thingy he helped to invent, he came up with something now known as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. We'll call it the HUP so we can save time and keyboard strokes, and sound like we hang out with brilliant people and talk about quantum physics stuff all the time. The general idea of the HUP is that some pairs of properties are linked in such as way they cannot both be measured precisely at the same time. The more you know about one, then the less you know about the other.
For example, the more you fill your brain with American Idol, the less you know about anything that's actually useful.

If I were a brilliant physicist, I would, in hushed tones, say that the HUP tells us we can't simultaneously know both the position and direction of a mass of particles. We can, for example, know with precision, the direction of the mass, but any individual particle is free to move about at will, and it's impossible to know or predict its location, or where it will end up over time. Or something like that.

You may possibly be asking what any of this has to do with Mormon? That's a brilliant question. As far as I know, Mormon wasn't a quantum physicist. He didn't even have a last name. But he understood the spiritual and social implications of the HUP way before Heisenberg was a twinkle in his daddy's eye. At some point in the decline of Nephite society, Mormon and Moroni knew perfectly well that their society was going to be destroyed, because they had ripened in wickedness, and there was an everlasting decree on the land that ensured that any nation possessing the land would be swept off of it when they were "ripe in iniquity." So they knew that the "mass" of society was toast because they didn't and wouldn't repent. But they didn't know whether any one individual would repent and turn away from their wickedness. Each person had their free will, and could change direction at any time, in spite of the direction of the mass.


So Mormon and Moroni had a work to do, and they continued their efforts to bring souls to Christ, to the very end. They didn't give up hope that even if their labors among the Nephites were in vain, they would meet many souls in the kingdom of God; souls who would repent and come unto Christ because of what they and other prophets had written in the Book of Mormon. Each of us are free to choose whether we'll follow the mass of society off the cliff that they're racing toward today, or to turn toward the Savior and follow Him.

Love, Dad

My Personal Best

As you are no doubt aware, when it comes to real exercise, nobody in the Brand family better impersonates a giant slug than yours truly. I've been thinking about getting into running for quite some time now. It's not that I really like running. I just like the idea of running. You know, the idea of being in shape and having good looking legs, and not wheezing like our dog Joy every time I climb the stairs or walk more than 20 yards at a time.

So I like the thought of being a runner, and I've thought about it occasionally over the last few years. And every time i think about it, I lie down until I'm able to think about something else, which usually happens in 4 or 5 seconds.


Every time, that is, until about a month ago.

A month ago, Brittney tricked me into doing more than just thinking about it. Somehow she got me to actually sign up for a race. And as you probably know, it's not just any race, but a half marathon. Could we have done a 5K or something reasonable for a first race? Oh no. It's got to be a half marathon. 13.1 miles of fun on August 8th. And we have to be there in the Provo canyon at some awful hour like 5:30am. In the morning. I think I've got a pretty good testimony that the Lord made all the hours between 8am and midnight. And it's a pretty sure bet that the devil made all the others.

The good news is that I've actually stuck with the running thing now for a few weeks, and it has reminded me that having a hard fast deadline can help you stick to a goal and a schedule like nothing else can. I've been running 3 days per week without fail, sometimes 4 days, for a month now, and I guarantee you that without that August 8th deadline, I wound have found a way to miss a bunch of those running days.

Saturday, July 4th, I ran farther than this almost-49 year old body has perhaps ever run without stopping. A total of 4.4 miles. I was sure it was over 5 miles at the time, but tonight I drove it in the car and the odometer says 4.4 miles. Even so, that's a personal best. And in doing my personal best, it doesn't really matter at all that there are about 5.61 billion people on earth that can run farther and faster than me. It doesn't even matter that at least 7 or 8 of those people are better looking that me too. I just feel great that I did my personal best and its good to experience a sense of accomplishment and progress toward a goal. It's good medicine.

My Best Day EVER

Yes, this has officially been the best day ever. Thank you all for most excellent and awesome Father's Day photo card creation. I loved the photos and especially the notes. I love you all.

Ok, so I'm a slug

Yes, I'm posting for the first time since January. Not exactly a model blogger, but here's another post for posterity. Today is Father's Day. I'm basking in the glory of being king for a day, and looking forward to some mighty fine food off the high-octane backyard grill.
Oh yeeeeeaaaaah.

A Reading Assignment from Dad

Most of you have never heard of Clayton Christensen. He's a Harvard professor and business consultant who is famous for his research and publications on disruptive innovations and their effect in the marketplace. He's a pretty smart guy, even in the brainy crowd he hangs around with. He's also a faithful Latter-Day Saint. The photo above is of him on his mission to Korea. Here's his Bio

Can I make a reading assignment to our family for the week? I'd like you all to read something he wrote. It's called "Why I Belong and Why I Believe"

Click here and take a few moments to read it. I would like to get your comments about it either in the blog post comments or via email.

Too good to be true (the overnight millionaire scam)

I thought this was good advice from Seth Godin's blog http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/11/too-good-to-be.html

Too good to be true (the overnight millionaire scam)

You probably don't need to read this, but I bet you know people who do. Please feel free to repost or forward:

Times are tough, and many say they are going to be tougher. That makes some people more focused, it turns others desperate.

You may be tempted at some point to try to make a million dollars. To do it without a lot of effort or skill or risk. Using a system, some shortcut perhaps, or mortgaging something you already own.

There are countless infomercials and programs and systems that promise to help you do this. There are financial instruments and investments and documents you can sign that promise similar relief from financial stress.

Resist.

There are four ways to make a million dollars. Luck. Patient effort. Skill. Risk.

(Five if you count inheritance, and six if you count starting with two million dollars).

Conspicuously missing from this list are effortless 1-2-3 systems that involve buying an expensive book or series of tapes. Also missing are complicated tax shelters or other 'proven' systems. The harder someone tries to sell you this solution, the more certain you should be that it is a scam. If no skill or effort is required, then why doesn't the promoter just hire a bunch of people at minimum wage and keep the profits?

There are literally a million ways to make a good living online, ten million ways to start and thrive with your own business offline. But all of these require effort, and none of them are likely to make you a million dollars.

Short version of my opinion: If someone offers to sell you the secret system, don't buy it. If you need to invest in a system before you use it, walk away. If you are promised big returns with no risk and little effort, you know the person is lying to you. Every time.

Another Conference to Remember

I think this has been one of the best General Conferences ever. I made it a matter of prayer during the days leading up to conference that the brethren would be inspired to say things that would be directly applicable to me and the challenges that are confronting us as a family. I suppose the better prayer would have been to ask that I would pay attention and have ears to hear what they were saying. But either way, my prayer was answered and I received what I believe were direct answers that I need right now. I felt my testimony strengthened on several occasions and felt my gratitude increase the Atonement of Christ and for the restored church. I testify to each member of my wonderful family that it is the Lord's kingdom on earth and that Christ is at the helm. That the Prophet Joseph was called by the Father and the Son to restore the church and that the keys of the priesthood are at work in the church to prepare for the Savior's coming. Sometimes I feel an acute longing for the Savior's return and the Millennium. Your mom and I want more than anything else, to arrive safely there with all our children and grandchildren. I was very moved by the hymn we sang in the opening session of conference on Saturday morning (which was very cool to be at in person --a first for us!) Anyway, the words of the hymn are a reminder of that happy, coming day when we all want to be there together:

Come, ye children of the Lord,
Let us sing with one accord,
Let us raise a joyful strain
To our Lord, who soon will reign
On this earth, when it shall be
Cleansed from all iniquity;
When all men from sin will cease,
And will live in love and peace.

O, how joyful it will be
When our Savior we shall see!
When in splendor He’ll descend,
Then all wickedness shall end.
O what songs we then will sing
To our Savior, Lord and King!
O what love will then bear sway,
When our fears shall flee away!

All arrayed in spotless white,
We will dwell ’mid truth and light.
We will sing the songs of praise;
We will shout in joyous lays.
Earth shall then be cleansed from sin.
Every living thing therein
Shall in love and beauty dwell;
Then with joy each heart will swell.

I hope every member of our family will spend the next six months reading and listening to the conference talks, with special emphasis on the talks by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. I've noticed that when I read the talks after conference, I find that there is much that I missed the first time. I especially like to listen to the talks after downloading them to my ipod.

Curse upon the land

All the talk lately about the credit crisis in the US and world financial markets with dire predictions about the credit markets seizing up if something isn't done to provide liquidity, reminded me of these verses in the Book of Mormon:

And now there began to be a great curse upon all the land because of the iniquity of the people, in which, if a man should lay his tool or his sword upon his shelf, or upon the place whither he would keep it, behold, upon the morrow, he could not find it, so great was the curse upon the land.
Wherefore every man did cleave unto that which was his own, with his hands, and would not borrow neither would he lend" -Ether 14:1,2

Also, the recent revelations about the corruption among lawmakers in congress and their partners in crime at lending institutions and on Wall Street reminded me of Alma's warning to the Zoramites:

"...the foundation of the destruction of this people is beginning to be laid by the unrighteousness of your lawyers and your judges." -Alma 10:27

Stormy weather

I remember hearing President Hinckley speak in October 1998 General Conference, in the Priesthood session, about "There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed." He counseled us to put our house in order. http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-22-20,00.html

Then in October 2005, President Hinckley spoke about preparedness again:

We can so live that we can call upon the Lord for His protection and guidance. This is a first priority. We cannot expect His help if we are unwilling to keep His commandments. We in this Church have evidence enough of the penalties of disobedience in the examples of both the Jaredite and the Nephite nations. Each went from glory to utter destruction because of wickedness.

We know, of course, that the rain falls on the just as well as the unjust (see Matthew 5:45). But even though the just die they are not lost, but are saved through the Atonement of the Redeemer. Paul wrote to the Romans, "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord" (Romans 14:8).

We can heed warnings. We have been told that many had been given concerning the vulnerability of New Orleans. We are told by seismologists that the Salt Lake Valley is a potential earthquake zone. This is the primary reason that we are extensively renovating the Tabernacle on Temple Square. This historic and remarkable building must be made to withstand the shaking of the earth.

We have built grain storage and storehouses and stocked them with the necessities of life in the event of a disaster. But the best storehouse is the family storeroom. In words of revelation the Lord has said, "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing" (D&C 109:8).

Our people for three-quarters of a century have been counseled and encouraged to make such preparation as will assure survival should a calamity come.

We can set aside some water, basic food, medicine, and clothing to keep us warm. We ought to have a little money laid aside in case of a rainy day.

Now what I have said should not occasion a run on the grocery store or anything of that kind. I am saying nothing that has not been said for a very long time.

Let us never lose sight of the dream of Pharaoh concerning the fat cattle and the lean, the full ears of corn, and the blasted ears; the meaning of which was interpreted by Joseph to indicate years of plenty and years of scarcity (see Genesis 41:1–36).

I have faith, my dear brethren, that the Lord will bless us, and watch over us, and assist us if we walk in obedience to His light, His gospel, and His commandments. He is our Father and our God, and we are His children, and we must be in every way deserving of His love and concern.

I don't know when the stormy weather will turn in to a full fledged hurricane for any of us, but it seems clear from the scriptures that the day will come when we must be prepared to "withstand the evil day."
We've been very blessed with opportunities and with many of the good things of the earth. If I were to rewind the last couple of decades and do some things differently, I'd pay closer attention to staying out of debt wherever possible and saving more against a future rainy day, and perhaps getting more education. As it is, we're focused on staying out of consumer debt and saving some money each month, and building our year's supply of food and other necessities. I have faith that by doing this and keeping the commandments to the best of our abilities, and keeping our covenants with the Lord, he'll guide us through the stormy weather ahead.

Back to bloggin'

I've been thinking about things to write for the last two or three weeks, and on a couple of occasions had what I considered some real inspiration. I thought "that's exactly what I'm going to write about on the blog to the kids." Then I turned to other far less interesting and non-inspirational stuff, like making business calls and paying bills. And when I later tried to remember the awesome, spiritually amazing things that I was going to write... well, they're gone. It's either a symptom of early-onset type II chronic geezerneuropathy, or it's a lesson on valuing spiritual promptings enough to write them down. Kind of a spiritual "use it or lose it" thing.

Tonight I had a little time during my shift at the temple to read the scriptures, and I read Alma chapter 4. It's a great cautionary tale for us. Alma tells us that the Nephite church was doing great. Thousands of new converts were baptized and the people had continual peace and prosperity. That is, until the people of the church got all puffed up with pride, because of all the cool stuff they had. They started to wear really expensive designer clothing, and they set their hearts on their cool stuff, and probably wished they could have even more cool stuff, like all the beautiful people featured in Nephite GQ or the ever-popular Rameumptom People magazine.

All this was very distressing to Alma and the other priests and teachers, because they saw that as the people began to set their hearts on riches and vain things,

"they began to be scornful, one towards another, and they began to persecute those that did not believe according to their own will and pleasure."

This was not only a stumbling block for the progress of the church, but it was the catalyst for the destruction of the entire people. The proud ones made a habit of

"despising others, turning their backs upon the needy and the naked and those who were hungry and those who were athirst, and those who were sick and afflicted."

This so distressed Alma that he gave up his job as Chief Judge so he can be a full time missionary. He then goes on to give the people some seriously great sacrament meeting talks. He reclaims some of the wayward flock, like the people of Zarahemla and Gideon who decide to repent. Others, like the folks in Ammonihah weren't as impressed by the gospel message. They threw the missionaries in jail, made a big bonfire and threw the believers and their books into it. The bad guys in Ammonihah got smooshed in the end, or wiped out by some bad-tempered Lamanites, but I got to thinking about how all this nasty, murderous behavior by the people of Ammonihah was the natural result of their being lifted up with pride.

There's a lot of pride in the world today. You can see it manifested in the comments of almost any popular blog or web site. It doesn't seem to matter whether the topic is political, religious, or even a discussion about technology; the comments posted by many readers are, to put it mildly, "scornful, one towards another." There's lots of persecution aimed at those who don't believe according to the writer's "own will and pleasure."

I hope all my children develop strong opinions and the ability to passionately express them, but I hope they always do it with respect and consideration towards others who may believe differently. Mostly, I hope each of my children will develop the kind of faith that Alma had in Christ.